| Development is a process of change underway not only
in the Third World, but also in industrial countries like the United States. Development
is not contained within a country, but connects countries together and affects foreign
territories. Actions of individuals in the United States and other industrial countries
affect their own personal circumstances, the status of their countries, and the status of
other countries. Inform Yourself
Before beginning to act, increase your awareness of international
development, the environment, and the factors that affect both, so that you can speak and
write about them with authority.
 | Contact organizations concerned with economic and social development,
the environment, diverse human cultures, population, poverty, agriculture, food relief,
health care, renewable energy, and other topics related to the links between development
and the environment. Subscribe to their newsletters. |
| Learn how local, national, and international decisions by government
and private agencies affect development; learn what processes those organizations go
through to arrive at decisions, and what information they rely on; learn what their goals
are, and what successes or failures they have had. |
| If you have the opportunity, travel to areas of the country or the
world that have developed differently from your area, or that have faced different
problems in achieving development. |
| See how the development of your region affects its economy and your
community. Consider the ways that the development of neighboring regions and distant
countries also affect your community. |
| Learn how the foods you eat and the common household materials you
use depend on resources from distant lands. Learn more about the products that the poor
produce in other countries and how the poor contribute to their national economies. |
| Try to recognize the connections between the various elements of
international development (such as population, energy, agriculture, foreign trade). Try to
see how development must progress as a whole, rather than looking at each element
separately. |
Join With Others
Support organizations concerned with international development and
the environment; go to their meetings; volunteer your services. Help such groups to become
more involved in development issues. Learn about pending legislation that affects
development and environment.
Develop a network of contacts. Attend meetings of your city council
or county board and encourage them to consider issues that affect the future development
of your region and other parts of the world.
| Work with local business forums, Chamber of Commerce, Young
President's Association, Rotary Clubs, etc., to actively engage the business community in
a dialogue on sustainable development. Encourage creation of a statewide forum of chief
executive officers (CEOs) on the connection between economic growth and the wise,
long-term management of natural and human resources. |
| Create environmental or sustainable development awards for
responsible business practices and good corporate citizens. |
| Ask businesses to review their foreign environmental and pollution
control practices to see if they comply with local regulations. Businesses must be
conscientious about their impact on the environment, here and abroad. |
| Work with corporate planners to develop a definition of sustainable
development for the business community. |
| Work with shareholders and board members of corporations engaged in
overseas development projects to see that their projects meet sustainable development
criteria. |
| Form a state-wide coalition on sustainable development with leaders
from diverse sectors, business, finance, environment, government, education, peace,
health, population, labor, etc., to create a long-term sustainable development plan for
your state. Consider how the coalition can exert leadership internationally. |
Review Your Habits and Lifestyle
| Look for ways to conserve and protect the resources that the global
population shares. Try to recycle paper, glass, and cans; carpool, walk, or ride a bike
instead of driving; turn off extra lights; eat less meat. |
| Try to reduce your use of chemicals and industrial products. Reduced
consumption will conserve the resources used in all stages of the production of those
products. |
| Consider installing energy-conserving appliances and equipment in
your home, such as efficient heating, cooling, and lighting systems; solar panels, extra
insulation, and energy-efficient windows. |
| Avoid using products that directly reduce the natural resources base
or the biological diversity of industrial or developing countries. |
Work With Your Elected Officials
Contact your local, state, and national officials and find out their
positions and voting records on development and environment legislation. In brief, clear
letters and phone calls, tell your representatives where you and the organizations your
represent stand on the issues, and urge them to:
| encourage the World Bank, International Monetary Fund, and other
multilateral agencies to incorporate environmental considerations into all decisions. |
| increase national attention to international environmental and
developmental concerns. |
| increase national support for the United Nations. |
| allocate more resources to developing renewable energy sources and
improving energy efficiency. |
Publicize Your Views
Inform your community leaders, policymakers, and the general public
about the urgency of poverty in the Third World and its effects on industrial countries.
Stress the irreversible nature of the human injury, environmental damage, and economic
loss that result from poverty, and the potential of industrial countries for reducing
poverty.
| Write letters to the editors of local newspapers about development
and environment issues; help your organization create a public service message for local
television and radio stations. |
| Help spread the views of people who agree with you on development
issues, for example by supporting letter-writing campaigns to government representatives. |
| Try to write articles for magazines, newspapers, and newsletters
about subjects related to development and the environment. |
| Meet with editorial boards of local newspapers about the issues of
sustainable development and how they affect your community. |
Raise Awareness Through Education
Find out whether schools and libraries in your area have courses,
programs, films, and other educational resources related to development and the
environment. If not, offer to help develop or supply them. Offer to speak to classes or
organize projects on issues related to development and environment.
| Find out whether your state has a Global Issues Mandate. If it does
not, work with teachers and local school administrators to get one adopted. See that
curriculum materials on global sustainable development, environment, and population are
available to elementary and secondary school teachers. |
| Work with school administrators, teachers, and PTA groups to provide
teacher in-service training sessions that include units on environmental and sustainable
development topics. |
| At the college level, work with professors of various departments,
economics, biological and physical sciences, liberal arts, etc., to sponsor a sustainable
development forum to discuss how that concept relates to their respective departments and
course offerings. Encourage multidepartment events. |
| Work to create a Foreign Student Speakers Bureau. Vising foreign
students are an untapped community resource. Contact heads of university departments to
see how these students can work with organizations in your community. Invite foreign
students to speak on sustainable development issues as they relate to what is happening in
their native countries. Encourage them to write articles for newsletters and participate
in local projects. |
| Start a development education project with your school or
organization. Contact groups such as the American Forum (see Appendix) for a resource list
of materials available. |
Consider the International Connections
Try to travel or study in a Third World country. Before you go,
learn about the country's history, culture, environment, and state of development. Observe
the range of living standards and the quality of life, and consider how they are related
to the country's economic and social development and to its environment. Compare the
communities you visit to your own community. Learn which U.S. organizations have links
with organizations in the country you visit, and how they operate. Become involved in
exchange programs and sister-city initiatives.
Shaping Public Policy
There remains much to be done to encourage more positive and
effective public policies at every level on long-term national and global issues.
Your Opinion Can Make a Difference
On most domestic issues that preoccupy Members of the U.S. Congress,
there are organized and vocal constituents back in the home states and districts. They
make themselves heard, and Senators and Representatives listen, knowing that the message
they receive today in a letter, phone call, or visit may very well influence how a vote
will be cast on the next election day. On global issues, however, the constituency is
often less visible, less organized, and much less often heard. The result, not
surprisingly is that Members of Congress are often reluctant to appropriate funds for
foreign aid or to support international organizations and activities that affect future
global trends.
Changing this climate of apathy and inaction is one of GTC's key
functions. GTC members recognize the need to address significant global challenges ahead
of us, but know that we must work together, or else the multiplicity of voices may simply
overwhelm our elected representatives. Together we can pool our unique resources in ways
that will capture public attention for global issues. Working cooperatively citizen
activists can tap those resources and magnify their influence at the local, state, and
national level. Progress on this front must begin with the involvement of concerned
individuals like yourself.
Think Globally, Act Locally
This is the essential guideline for your community activities and
constituency building. Broader public awareness of global problems is essential to move
our country toward greater participation in effective remedial action in our own
self-interest. In the community at large, there is much that can be done by a local
organization to promote awareness of the need for dealing with global issues. Because an
issue may have consequences in many different areas, you should look for aspects of the
problem that are likely to be of concern to local organizations.
Citizen Action
Information, organization, public outreach, and direct communication
with elected officials are the keys to effective citizen activism. Start by carefully
defining your objectives. Decide which global issues concern you the most and are most
worthy of your devotion of time and energy. Identify local organizations and individuals
that you think may have similar interest. Seek them out, verify your shared concerns, and
find out what they might be willing to do together with you.
Get to Know Your Elected Officials
Begin your letter-writing campaign. A letter to a member of the
House of Representatives is addressed to:
The Honorable __________________
U.S. House of Representatives
Washington, D.C. 20515
Dear Representative __________________:
A letter to a member of the Senate is addressed to:
The Honorable ____________________
U.S. Senate
Washington, D.C. 20510
Dear Senator ____________________:
Persuade others to write letters, too. Letter-writing is a simple
but powerful political tool for communicating with elected officials. The staffs of
Members of Congress and other elected officials read their mail and count it, too
(sometimes, when the volume is exceptionally high, they even weigh it). Their
offices have sophisticated systems for registering the receipt of mail, formulating an
official response on an issue, and communicating that response to citizens who request it.
Writing a letter on an issue to your elected representative
shouldn't be a once-in-a-lifetime event but the beginning of a steady and increasingly
respectful and productive relationship. Your letter should combine all the benefits of
your information search, organization, and outreach. It should be short and direct,
stating the facts of your concern clearly and politely in one page, if possible. Make the
local relevance of your position clear. Work with others to make sure that they, too,
write personal letters. Always ask your representative for a specific response, and always
follow up politely, regardless of whether the response is positive or negative. Threats
and accusations are counterproductive with most elected officials. If they disagree with
you or are indifferent today, don't be put off. Instead, pursue the issue further,
addressing or soliciting the particular objections the official may have and showing him
or her that there are authoritative people who share your point of view.
The same is true if you send a telegram, make a telephone call, or
pay a visit. Minds are made to be changed, and the holders of public office are as
sensitive to that imperative of political life as anyone else. Successful political
careers are based on responsive positions. No matter how urgent the crisis of today, keep
in mind, that, more often than not, you will have another opportunity to work on it
tomorrow. An elected official may be turned around the next time, if you don't burn all
your bridges now. And every public official is keenly aware that there will be another
election in two, four, or six years.
Some membership groups within the Coalition have detailed manuals
describing the political process, and suggesting how you can help shape policy. Learn from
these publications and from the experience of others.
Source: Walter H. Corson, Editor. Citizen's Guide to
Sustainable Development. Washington, DC: Global Tomorrow Coalition, 1990. |